Vindica
by V0xie
Summary: A huntress bent on revenge, Saya is on the path to defining her destiny. She will avenge her brother, even if it kills her. Considering her foe, it just might. / A story between Sesshomaru and a character of my own creation.


The young woman stood in the temple doorway with her blade sitting comfortably on her shoulder. The Sōhei temple was truly beautiful. The monks chanted as the worshippers placed their hands to their foreheads in prayer. The scent of incense filled her. The sounds of the chanting and the reverberating noise from their instruments shivered down her spine and curled into her chakras, calming them. A light breeze ruffled her long black hair. She lifted her nose to the air and breathed deep. Nothing.

The youkai had moved on. She stood for a moment longer before turning on her heel, leaving the worshippers to their prayer. With an annoyed snort, she sheathed Kai, the katana that was forged especially for her under the blood harvest moon by a master blacksmith that was long since dead. Endowed with great powers, it could cut through demons like butter. However, it was getting very little practice. No. Kai's master was specific in her target. She was looking for only one. One that she had tracked to the Sōhei temple. But he was gone, despite the fact that she had not been too far behind.

'Perhaps, you are losing your touch,' Rei whispered in her mind. As he often did.

'Or he didn't stay in the village for long, perhaps bypassing it altogether,' she quipped silently. Rei had no retort to offer.

She walked away from the temple, located in the heart of the small farming village, and started for the main road. The demon wasn't there, so there was no reason for her to be, either. The more distance she put between herself and the temple, the more the monk's chanting began to die away. The calming feeling disappeared with it. The sun began to set on the village. She should have stopped to make camp. The forest was dangerous at night. Especially alone. Especially for a woman. But she decided against it, instead following the main road out into the forest. She would lose time if she stopped to rest. Time she was too impatient to waste.

She walked. The sun dipped behind the mountains, further, further, until no light remained and the inky black of night was at its strongest. She continued to walk. To her, it seemed little time had passed since she exited the village, which was hours behind her.

'Foolish as ever,' Rei commented, finally.

She thought of ignoring him but, Rei could be so damn persistent. 'What now?'

'It's the middle of the night, and you're walking. Why?'

She frowned. 'You know why.'

Rei's chuckle resonated through her mind. 'Foolish. You have no leads. So why walk.'

'Do I just give up because I've lost a scent? No. The demon doesn't know he has a tail. He isn't too far ahead. Have faith, brother.'

Rei was silent for a moment. 'Faith?'

'Rei-'

'Faith is for the weak, and the women,' Rei spat the word women at her and said nothing more. How she hated upsetting Rei. This was all for him. She was doing this to make him happy. Yet he was unhappy. Anxiety pulled at her thoughts, threatening to unravel her. If not for her training, she might have. The next village was a day and a half walk. She could shorten the time if she jogged.

'This wouldn't be necessary if you had stayed in our village instead of wandering off to be a heathen woman no man would want to marry,' Rei's matter of fact tone was nothing short of irritating, especially when he emulated their mother. 'Gallivanting with that pitiful old fool, playing with swords. Leave the soldiering to the men.'

She made no comment. Her body was wrapped in the traditional demon hunter's uniform; black and tight. There were no bands of color in her outfit, nor in the mask that covered the lower half of her face, nothing to signify lineage or heritage. She had no family. She would never have a family. Her line would die with her, but that wasn't so bad. Not as bad as letting it die with no honor. Her family was a lot of things, weak pushover was not on the list. No, as far as anybody else was concerned, she was a nomad, a huntress for hire.

As a huntress, her body was lean, lithe. Toned and sculpted in the right areas to improve and supplement skill. It was not the body of a wife. It was not the body of a temple maiden. It was a warrior's body, one that she had been sculpting since a young age. She began to jog, enjoying her own fitness momentarily.

Briefly, she thought back to her childhood. She remembered watching Rei leaving with their father to go train. She remembered being jealous. Their father hardly spent any time with her. It was always about Rei. The firstborn. The son. She was nothing more than an afterthought, a pair of hands to help her mother around the house and gardens. Nothing more than a piece of property to be sold off to the highest bidder when she was ripe to marry.

She never wanted that, the life of a housewife. She never wanted to bear children until her body could bear them no longer. She never wanted to serve a man. That was never who she was. In her younger days, during the day, when her chores were done and her lessons were over, she would sneak off to the training area to watch her father teach Rei the way of the warrior. She would watch intently, study, memorize. Then, at night, she would tip toe out after everyone had gone to sleep, to the training area. She would practice with wooden swords and spears, slapping and stabbing the dummies, imagining she was fighting some great beasts.

She would triumph them and imagine her father being so proud of her. She did this for months until she was caught. It was her mother that had caught her.

She was supposed to be hanging up laundry to dry when she heard pained cries coming from the training area. It wasn't normal. Her father usually pushed Rei hard, but not to the point where he cried out. Naturally, she was curious so she went to investigate.

She stood on the outside of the training area, hidden in the patch of woods that surrounded it. Rei and her father were in the fighting circle, sparring. She was surprised to see her father brandishing a real, steel sword. Normally, they trained with the wood ones to prevent any serious injury. He was standing over Rei, who was faced down in the dirt.

"Get up," Her father commanded. Rei tried to lift himself but his arms were weak, unsteady. He continued to try. "Now, Rei."

"I can't-" Rei began but their father planted his foot in between Rei's shoulder blades and shoved him back down into the dirt.

"Do you think your enemy will care if you're tired? The fight isn't over until a contender dies. It's up to the strongest to determine who that will be," Father said, delivering a swift kick to Rei's side. Rei grunted, trying not to cry out. She could see the look on his face and knew this was the hardest Rei had ever been pushed.

Father looked down at Rei with disgust. "Perhaps you should take up sewing kimonos. That way you can go sit and gossip with the women. Perhaps you would be more comfortable there."

Rei didn't like that. He forced himself out of the dirt and onto his feet. His skin was scratched and nicked in a hundred different places. Superficial though his wounds might've been, his skin was bloodied and dirty, making him look as if he had been through a great war in just one afternoon.

"Pick up your sword, boy," Father said, lifting his own. Rei walked to his sword and picked it up. She was unsurprised to see him limping. "Again."

She was so intently watching the spar that she didn't even noticed the footsteps behind her. Her upper arm was seized and she jumped as she was whirled around into the angry face of her mother. She was dragged back to the house, scolded and berated for not paying better attention to the things her mother was trying to teach her.

"No man wants a lazy wife, Saya! Do you want to be a lonely old hag with nothing? Do you?" her mother demanded, but experience told her to say nothing. A beating with a switch from their cherry blossom tree followed shortly thereafter. Afterwards, Saya was sent to her cot in the loft space of their house. She was not permitted to come down until dinner, but she could still see everything in the house.

After she was done being angry and wiping the tears from her eyes, she sat in the corner, looking down at the house. Her mother, still very much enraged, went about her day mumbling to herself about how Saya made her feel like a failure of a mother. She cleaned and cooked with excessive force, banging things around, making her anger known. It didn't matter to Saya; she would not stop going to watch her father and Rei train. She would not stop practicing. She would withstand any punishment she had to.

A few hours later, Rei and her father returned home, just before sunset. Rei looked worse than when Saya saw him earlier. He had fresh cuts and new dirt, his body glistening from head to toe in sweat. As soon as Saya's mother saw him, she dropped everything, including her anger and ran to him.

"Rei! Koto, was this really necessary, look at him! My poor son," Mother crooned and she pulled Rei to her bosom. He winced.

"Do not baby the boy, Yuri," Her father said. He clapped Rei on the shoulder. "He fought well, but he still has much to learn."

Saya watched from the loft, burning with jealousy. Always about Rei.

"Perhaps you should train him further away from home," Her mother casually mentioned. Saya's ears perked up.

"Mm, and why is that?" Her father replied. Saya knew what was coming next.

"I caught Saya spying on you two instead of doing her chores," Her mother said, sounding annoyingly satisfied, as if by doing so she had saved the entire family and ancestry some great embarrassment. Saya held her breath, looking at her father. He looked up into the loft. Saya ducked down behind some sacks of grain, expecting more harsh words or another beating. Neither came. Instead, he chuckled.

"Is that so? Saya, come down here," Her father said. Saya felt panic twist in her gut. Was he angry? Or worse, disappointed? The thought made Saya sick, nervous. But she obeyed, climbing down the ladder into the main area.

"Yes, father?" Saya said, feeling smaller than a bug.

"You've been watching Rei's training?" Her father asked. Saya barely nodded.

"Yes, sir," She said quietly.

"And you've been doing this for quite some time now, haven't you?" Again, Saya nodded.

"Yes, sir,"

"Where have you been going at night, Saya?" Her father asked. All the color drained from Saya's face. She looked over at her mom, who turned about three shades of scarlet. She could practically hear the impending doom. Her mother, a modest woman, would assume the worst; that she was sneaking out to whore around with the village boys.

"I-I've been going to the training area, sir," Saya said, dropping down on to all fours and bowing in apology.

"For god sakes, how many times have I told you to bow with some decency, Saya," Her mother said, unable to hold back her incessant nagging any longer.

"Quiet, Yuri. Saya, do you want to learn how to hunt demons?" Her father asked.

"Koto!" Her mother exclaimed. Saya didn't think she heard him right until she heard her mother's squeaky protest. She lifted her head to look at her father, just in time to see her mother hit her father with the rolled up rice paper. After receiving no response, she groaned in frustration and turned away from her husband. Saya remembered thinking, she is going to make his life hell for this. It didn't change her mind.

"Yes, I do," She said quietly. Her father smiled at her. She suddenly remembered the way her father stood over Rei in the training area, the way he pushed him to the point of both mental and physical exhaustion. She was scared, but it didn't matter. She was going to learn the family trade. She was finally going to be able to be something more than a common, boring housewife. She was going to be able to give her life purpose, meaning. She was excited. She was ready.

Saya came back out of herself. She had been jogging for some time and dawn was just beginning to wake the sky. She gripped Kai as she passed a crossroads sign pointing to the next time. She had arrived at the crossroads, slowing only to scan the sign. She continued onto the town. Only a few hours left in her journey. She was anxious to get there.

The town would be the only logical location after the farming village. It was a more populated town and had plenty of prey for the youkai. Saya figured that to be the most likely place for the youkai. The last village didn't turn up one single piece of evidence that suggested where the demon might have gone. She couldn't catch the scent of him. She could smell plenty of other things. But not the demon. A heightened sense of smell used to be exclusive to demons, until her ancestors discovered a way of training the senses. Besides being able to pick up scents, her clan could also see exceptionally at night, and the ability to hear a footstep a half a mile away. Those skills weren't as sharp as her demon counterparts, but it got the job done, and kept her alive more times than she could count.

Saya stretched her arms as she slowed to a walk, rolling the stiffness from her joints. She had been steadily jogging for hours. She was starting to feel the burden of that choice. Exhaustion was filling her, but she knew she could travel well after sundown if she needed to. She could extend that even longer if she meditated to recover her strength. It was ideal when traveling because it was shorter than sleeping. Less time spent sleeping meant more time traveling. That meant bringing herself that much closer to seeking revenge on the demon that killed her brother.

Saya wouldn't stop. She would continue until he was avenged. The demon was unlike any demon she had ever fought before. He was some sort of dog demon lord. She laughed at the notion. DOG demon lord? Whoever heard of such a thing. In human society, dogs were lower mammals. That's all that mattered to Saya. The perversion of the demon realm was beyond her understanding and she didn't care. She didn't discriminate when it came to the edge of her blade. They could call themselves lord of the vermin but they all fell under her sword. She was a formidable force to begin with.

Now she was a formidable pissed off force. The only thing on her mind was revenge. She hated the demon that killed her brother. She wanted to kill him slow, she wanted to cut him up and show him all the pieces of himself. She was determined to avenge her kin.

With purpose, she gripped her sword and took off at a run for the village. A quick calculation in her mind told her she would be able to shave at least three hours off her journey if she kept the pace. She would need to stop for water, she would need to rest after this, but the idea of getting to the village quickly became more important with each passing second, her gut telling her that haste was needed. Perhaps the demon was in the next village. Perhaps he just decided to stick around for a while. Saya hoped so.

The thought made her run faster.


End file.
